EFL Learners' Speaking

The current study was an attempt to systematically compare the effect of "Conferencing” and “Self-Assessment” (SA) on the speaking of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners.

To fullfill this objective, a group of 90 female EFL learners, within the age range of 17 to 19 years old (Mage = 18), attending English classes at Kish language School took a piloted sample of PET as a proficiency test, 60 of them were selected as a homogeneous learners and were divided into two experimental groups of Conferencing and SA. In the next step a speaking section of PET was administered as a pre-test to both groups. All classes of the two groups were instructed by the same teacher (the researcher) using the same material.

At the end of the training another speaking section of PET was administered as a posttest. The analyses of the speaking scores using Mann-Whitney U test revealed that the two experimental groups were significantly different in terms of their speaking. As in this study the positive effect of SA on speaking test is proved, teachers can use SA to make learners have better level of speaking. In other words this type of assessment can increase the awareness of the participants and consequently yield better results in their speaking